


"By the campfire we spin our tales"

by write_light



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hale Family Feels, Other, Teen Wolf Reverse Bang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-29 19:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3907147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/write_light/pseuds/write_light
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU; There's a terrifying piece of werewolf history that's best forgotten, some say; others know never to forget the past. Except that most of the rebellion has already been wiped from memory.  A warm domestic moment at the Hale household, with an unexpected appearance by Papa Hale.  Leave it to Uncle Peter to give his niece and nephew nightmares, most likely on purpose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"By the campfire we spin our tales"

**Author's Note:**

> A sidebar to a larger fic I'm working on for Teen Wolf ReverseBang. I didn't realize how much I needed Derek's father until he just showed up. Also I'm positing a slightly larger age gap (10 yrs?) between Peter and Derek than canon would suggest.

Derek lay in his father's lap, drifting in and out of consciousness as his face pressed heavier and heavier against the thick, warm thigh and the deep voice rumbled at his back. It was well past his bedtime, but Uncle Peter was there.

Derek could hear Laura's heart beating quickly but he was so sleepy that he missed most of what Uncle Peter was saying with that excited, slippery voice of his. Uncle Peter told them scary stories. Every time he came to visit.

"We have our own bestiary, you know? Hunters are in there - they scare most wolves (not me or you either, Laura, I bet)." She shook her head 'no' almost imperceptibly, but Peter grinned as he went on "- the way a bogeyman scares you even if you don't want to say it scares you. You just can't help yourself."

Derek was near sleep, his father's hand stroking his hair softly, covering his ear whenever Peter went too far with his stories.

"But there's one thing that scares even an Alpha, even today. The Well-Spring."

He glanced sideways at Talia.

"They were extremists, even for hunters. And they damned near wiped us out in their rebellion. They had their collaborators among the emissaries-"

Talia groaned.

"- _so they say_ ," Peter continued fluidly, not missing a beat. "And among the _wolves_ …"

He drew out the last word, holding Laura's wide eyes with his gaze.

"Peter, that's not true," Talia interrupted softly so as not to wake Derek.

"You will pay for this," came the half-serious threat, a deep voice from all around Derek, waking him.

"But all gone now, all gone, for a hundred years and more" Peter said quickly, in his least convincing tone. Laura gulped. "Gone from power if not from this world entirely – ideas like that never really can die away completely."

Talia could sense Laura's efforts to be brave were failing, and she stepped in.

"The North won the Civil War, but there was another war going on – _that much is true_ ," she directed pointedly at Peter, who merely shrugged. "The wolves and their emissaries won, but we're still not sure exactly how – that history can't be found."

"And not covered up, but erased, step by step," Peter added. "Someone took their time hiding their fingerprints."

Derek's father leaned over his small son and pressed his forehead against him, inhaling deeply.

"Find the spark you need to be great, Derek. Find it in love, not in scaring little kids" he whispered into Derek's ear, and kissed it softly.

Derek rubbed his ear sleepily at the touch of his father's prickly beard and dozed again.

"And don't let your uncle put foolish ideas in your head," he added, looking up at Peter.

Peter practically beamed.

Laura slept well enough, Derek woke scared. Pieces of the story had worked their way past his father's warm embrace. He wondered what love he would find, and what the Civil War was.  



End file.
